Crain's editorial: Another shot

Granted, it's difficult to attach a name to a complex whose mission was ill-defined from the onset — and "ill-defined" is a generous description of what was first sold to taxpayers as a "medical mart" that would bring hospital operators from around the country to a building that showcased medical equipment and services. Unlike Cleveland, developers in New York City and Nashville wisely canned their medical mart plans before putting their shovels to earth.

However, the hulking complex attached to Cleveland's convention center appears to have a pulse.

This month, Cuyahoga County announced that BioEnterprise Corp. would take the reins at the Global Center. Under the arrangement, the nonprofit health care and bioscience business accelerator would move the bulk of its management staff and take over strategic management, including programming and tenant relations, of the 4-year-old building on Cleveland's downtown Mall.

BioEnterprise will not be the building's property manager. Catering, security and other aspects of building operations will continue to be overseen by SMG, the convention center management firm that also runs the adjacent Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland.

And if it weren't good enough news that a well-respected organization with a keen understanding of Cleveland's space in the broader health care economy would take over the fledgling Global Center, last week it was announced a renowned Silicon Valley innovation company would take over 10,000 square feet of space at the facility to help create an accelerator focused on biotech and digital health innovation.

Cleveland Clinic and JumpStart are teaming up with Plug and Play — one of the largest accelerator programs in the world — for a three-year partnership that will enable the trio to work together in the hopes of attracting dozens of health care startups from around the world to Cleveland every year.

Despite it not even being kindergarten age, turnarounds are nothing new at the Global Center. But somehow, this one feels different.

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish was correct in telling Crain's that he could have treated the Global Center "as an inherited albatross and kept it at arm's length."

And frankly, it would have been easy for Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove — one of the most vocal advocates of the original medical mart concept — to do the same as he glides out of the system's top job at year end. After all, a number of executives with Clinic ties have been involved in the Global Center's quiet turnaround efforts over the last few years with little to show for their work.

The Plug and Play partnership, in particular, has the potential to infuse some vitality into the Global Center and Cleveland's already relatively high-performing biomedical sector.

Starting next spring, the accelerator will operate two cohorts per year featuring 10 companies in each. Officials say that over three years, hundreds of startups from across the globe are expected to compete for those 60 slots.

The Global Center's success is still anything but guaranteed, but we like these odds. It would be naive, for example, to count on the next Google, Dropbox and PayPal — all of which were early tenants in Plug and Play's Palo Alto office — to be in one of these early cohorts and ultimately stay and grow in Cleveland. But if Cleveland has proven one thing over the last few years, it can impress when given the opportunity.

Ultimately, these moves at the Global Center are much more than another name change, or a new person steering a ship without a destination.

Finally, there appears to be a clear strategy, and a desired and achievable outcome: more businesses in Northeast Ohio. Now let's get to work.